Healing

Healing is an ability to restore an individual to full health or an object to pristine condition. The trigger for this power is love and conversely the trigger for the touch of death, its counterpart power is hate.

Contents

Overview

This power is mainly possessed by Whitelighters, a warm golden light shines from their hands as they heal injuries and wounds on others. It also mends their charges' torn clothes. This ability has also been shown to heal objects as well, such as when Leo used them on some plumbing pipes and the sign for P3. This power also seems to counteract and remove poisons. Healing also cures illnesses and maladies, although illnesses with mental reasons can't be cured through healing.[1]

There are exceptions however, such as the inability to heal self-inflicted wounds such as drunkenness. It is also impossible to heal animals or the dead. Whitelighters are only able to heal physical injuries when they are supposed to, referring to injuries that have been inflicted by evil. If they heal someone they are forbidden by the Elders to help, their wings can be clipped as punishment, like when Leo healed Piper when she had Oroya Fever.

It is impossible to heal demons, although Leo was once able to partially heal Cole Turner by focusing on his human half. when Paige added her power as a Half-Whitelighter, they were able to completely heal Cole.[2]

While Leo has shown the ability to heal himself if his body sustains injuries that would be fatal if he was human, such as when he was stabbed with a butcher knife[3], this ability does not extend to magically-induced injuries, and apparently takes a conscious effort on Leo's part, as he cannot heal himself from being knocked unconscious.

Paige Matthews, being only half whitelighter, did not have the power to heal for several years, until she admitted her love for her future husband Henry Mitchell during a bank robbery. Before she found her trigger, she had to channel her healing abilities through Leo.

List of Users

Notes and Trivia

Healing, in the comics

In the earlier seasons, a little lightbulb would be used for the healing light. The lightbulb would be attached to palm of the actor's hand and the wire (which would be hidden in the sleeve) was connected to a little power box in the back pockets of the actor's pants or in a jacket. For some shots, the light was added by computer. Paige's healing in season 8 was all done by computer, most noticeably, by the coloring and opacity of the light looking unnatural.

The rule that Whitelighters are not allowed to heal certain injuries is often neglected in later seasons. A notable example is in "My Three Witches", where Leo offers to heal a minor cut on Piper's finger and a slight fever Wyatt is having.

Although it is stated many times that is impossible to heal the dead, there are many occasions where healing has brought a person back when they were already in the process of crossing over, suggesting that a person is not considered 'dead' until their spirits have passed on.